Saturday, August 31, 2013

Homeschool Mother's Journal: Getting to Work Edition

In our homeschool... We're still trying to find a rhythm with a school routine, and sometimes I wonder if we'll ever manage it! We haven't got all subjects going yet, and are still figuring out the best daily schedule to follow.

Social Studies - Landon and Kennady worked on their first writing assignments of the year - mini-reports on some of the best-known natural landmarks in South America, and on one animal of their choice that is native to South America. They had assigned reading about the country of Argentina, and we continued trying a few foods from Argentina as well as from Bolivia. I am planning on sharing regular posts about the food we try - this was the first post in the Eating the Americas series. I changed gear a bit on the reading assignments by the end of the week, and we decided to read about the countries together, starting with Bolivia.
  
English - I had wanted to get started with IEW this week, but it didn't happen. Which is okay, because we got several weeks worth done during the summer. Kennady did start on her literature course though. She is doing Lightning Lit & Comp for Grade 7. This week she read Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and worked on writing assignments related to that.

Math - Landon got started with Algebra from VideoText Interactive, which we are reviewing. So far, so good!  Kennady finished reviewing some math from last year and I think she's ready to get going on this year's material next week.

Music/Art - Kennady had her last hour long lesson this week, with both piano and guitar instruction. Next week she goes to a half hour lesson, and she'll alternate with piano one week and guitar the next. She was very happy to get back to her art study again, and has done a couple of very nice drawings already. This was her first one of the year:

Technology - Spencer has been helping me out by trying to get the Windows and Game Programming software installed on the second computer. We're hoping we can run that course on the second computer, which will help with time management!

Bible - Landon continued working on his Bible study, Because You Are Strong, this week, although not every day. We just reviewed this and I thought so highly of it that I've ordered the similar study for girls, titled Beauty in the Heart. You can read our review of Because You Are Strong HERE.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share... it can be really helpful to consult your students about how the day's schedule should go. Landon disagreed with the way I had penciled in the schedule for the day, and it turned out he had a well thought out reason for his preference. There's no guarantee that either way will be completely foolproof, but I agreed with his idea and we're going to start out doing it his way.

In other news... I was very happy that the kids took it upon themselves to figure out The Presidential Game on their own and have been playing it during their lunch breaks this week! (We'll be posting a review about this game soon!)
I drove Spencer to his first job interview on Thursday, and it went so well (he got the job!) that we celebrated by bringing home barbecue for dinner.
We've had some vehicle problems. Again. With any luck we can get those looked after next week without too much strain on the ol' bank account.

One of my favorite things this week... Spencer got a job!

Things I'm working on... lesson planning - always! I am also working on getting a food ministry going at church, and sorting out how it's going to work. I'm planning a workshop for moms homeschooling through high school, to demystify some of the things that can seem scary at first - transcripts, credits, choosing courses, and all of that. So far the most challenging part of the planning looks like it will be finding a good location - the library meeting rooms are all booked for that evening!

A photo to share... Kennady surprised me with this bouquet when I got home from running errands this afternoon.

On the bookshelf...
  • The Stones Cry Out by Randall Price
  • Sticky Faith by Dr Kara E Powell and Chap Clark, Ph.D.
  • A Spear of Summer Grass by Deanna Raybourn
  • A Time for Silence by Philippa Carr
  • Love's First Light by Jamie Carey
I'm getting behind with the book blog again. I still haven't written about the two books I finished last week, and this week I finished Highland Blessings by Jennifer Hudson Taylor and have yet to write about it.

A parting shot... sometimes I just love how she sees things...
photo credit: Kennady

http://bit.ly/14VJ0MF

This post is linked at SoYouCallYourselfaHomeschooler.com and at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers - see how other homeschoolers are getting to work this week.

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6 comments:

Catherine said...

Looks like a good week! Congrats to your son on getting a job!!

Kara said...

Stopping by from the link up! I always enjoy reading about people's weeks who have older kiddos. It puts the long term vision in front of me :)

Emmalee I. Hoggatt said...

Stopping by from the Hoggatt Homeschool. I like the piano photo!

BARBIE said...

We have gotten a slow start on our schooling, and I still have a couple of things on order. I found a great planner called "homeschool-planner.com" It's all on the computer. Tracks attendance, grades, etc. My daughter gets an email the night before reminding her of assignments, etc. It does cost $6 a month, but so worth it to me!

Stefanie said...

Kennady is such a talented artist!!! We're handling art on our own this year. She's done the same projects at our co-op art class for 2 years in a row so I'm done paying for that.

I've been doing some cooking with Kayleigh but I'll admit I've skipped a few that I had planned too. lol Fortunately her and Mack are often studying the same time periods/countries so it often pertains to Mackenzie's studies too.

AdenaF said...

It's nice to find a blog that is homeschooling older kids! Of course, my older ones (16 and 14) don't like me writing about them....and especially they do not like me taking pictures! We are also doing the Windows/Game programming. I haven't gotten to downloading the software yet. We officially start tomorrow and I probably won't add in the extras til next week when we hopefully have more routine established.

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